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Class-action filing raises prospect of restoring Spokane’s EPA community-change grant funds
Summary
Board chair reported that Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a class-action lawsuit challenging terminations of certain EPA Clean Air Act grants; the complaint could affect restoration of the city's community-change grant.
The Spokane Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board heard an update that a federal class-action lawsuit could affect the status of a city partner grant the board has relied on for climate work.
Board Chair Brian Henning told members that Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) have filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the termination of a set of grant awards under a Clean Air Act provision that funded community-change projects, including a $20 million EPA community-change grant to which Spokane is a partner.
Henning said the suit covers the 350 grants targeted for termination and that class-action status avoids some recent Supreme Court limits on nationwide preliminary injunctions because the Court said those limits do not apply to certified class actions. Henning said that, if the class is certified and the litigation proceeds, there is reason to hope the funds could be restored and the city’s project could continue.
The board did not take any formal action; Henning presented the update as information for the board’s awareness and continued planning.
